Newton Centre resident Daron Acemoglu was awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Economics Sciences on October 15. The Royal Swedish Academy of Science awarded the prize to Acemoglu and two other economists, Simon Johnson and James A. Robinson, for their insights into why there are such vast differences in prosperity between nations. The trio has examined the political and economic systems introduced by European colonizers and the relationship between institutions and prosperity, and they also developed theoretical tools that can explain why differences in institutions persist and how institutions can change. Their work is described in detail in the Nobel announcement on Monday.
Acemoglu was born in Istanbul, Turkey in 1967 and received a PhD from London School of Economics and Political Science in 1992. He has been on the MIT faculty since 1993 and was named as an Institute Professor in 2019. Acemoglu is the co-author of the 2012 book “Why Nations Fail” (with Robinson) and with Johnson released “Power and Progress: Our Thousand Year Struggle Over Technology and Prosperity” last year. The book examines Artificial Intelligence in context of other historical battles for the economic benefits of technological innovation, an area Acemoglu plans to continue to pursue.
Acemoglu’s wife, Asu Ozdaglar, is the Deputy Dean of Academics for the Schwarzman College of Computing and Chair of the Department of Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS) at MIT.
Acemoglu is the second Newton Centre resident to win a Nobel prize in the last two weeks. On October 7, Gary Ruvkun was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine. Each year the Nobel committee awards prizes in six categories — Economics Sciences, Medicine, Physics, Chemistry, Literature, and Peace.
